SUFFOLK STREET GALLERY.
Tins is the ninth annual exhibition of the Society of British Artists. It displays a considerable amount of excellence in the mechanique of painting, especially in the lowest class of subjects ; a predominance of mediocrity of skill and talent ; and a few instances of promise in the higher (not the highest) range of art. But, generally speaking, the artists do not realize the expectations excited by their first demonstra- tions of talent ; nor do they improve upon their more mature efforts. They appear to forget that a painter cannot stand still : he must either advance or retrograde. There is no such thing as an Historical picture in the gallery; and
we forbear to point out the two or three failures, because they are but too evident, and the artists may yet do better. A clever sketch by PICKERING (514), though too showily coloured, gives promise of a good picture.
The best picture in the collection, in point of expression and in-
terest, is RIDDING'S Interior (.f a Gaining-house (296); one of the hells of Paris. It gives a view of a suite of three rooms filled with gamblers, male and female ; in the centre room, the table is surrounded by the votaries of play in every variety of age and character: here a veteran gamester, with the "imperturbability of a Talleyrand, eyes the game with seeming indifference, though ab- sorbed in calculations ; near him, a winner affects to look nonchalant as he draws the spoil towards him with the rake : opposite, a man grown desperate with his ill-fortune, unrestrained and unheeded, vents his rage in curses. The calm confidence of the coquette, and the exulting smile of her successful companion, are contrasted by the intense eagerness of the female at the other end of the table, and the grief of one less fortunate near them. The anxiety of all, more or less influenced by their degrees of success and their different dispositions,
i and the utter indifference of the waiters, who invite the eager players to partake of refreshments, altogether make up a scene painfully in- teresting, and with a forcible moral. The various expressions and characters are admirably depicted, and well grouped; and the picture is better than a hundred sermonizing descriptions. Technically, the painting wants power both in the handling and effect ; but these me- chanical deficiencies are almost overlooked in the truth and fidelity of the representation. We expect much at the hands of this artist.
HARVEY'S Baptism (115) represents a group of Covenanters as- sembled in the Highlands to solemnize a christening. The mothers with their infants and maidens, dressed in white, are ranged in the inner circle ; the fathers and male relatives on the outside—some with arms, in case of interruption ; the simple minister (a Scotch Parson Adams) is in the act of baptizing, while the urchins are amusing them- selves with looking and dropping stones into the water. The scene and characters are carefully delineated, with truth and feeling ; but there is a meagreness of style and a want of mastery, which neutralize the pictorial effect, and diminish the attractions of the painting. BOXALL'S Madeline (334) is a sweet study of simple womanhood ; the countenance and its expression are lovely and interesting. A faith- ful mezzotint of it by BROMLEY, is in the " Print-room." FAULKNER has: two or three very pretty sketches of females in IN- SKIPP'S style, but without his muddy tints. In The Love Bird (86), however, the trees seem on fire. Spare a Halfpenny (44), by this artist, is a very beautiful study of a child.
INSKIPP has.kveral rustic subjects, evincing a feeling for nature ; but his opaque colours, dirty browns, and fiery reds, are glaring proofs of mannerism. Of his numerous pictures, 238 is, we think, the best ; all are worth looking at. He las some unfinished studies of female beads, of great merit ; but which are more suited for exhibition on the table at a conversazione than in an exhibition.
VICKERS has two or three of his slight but clever sketches a-la-Bo- nington.
Wvarr's Philosopher (27)• is a fine study of the model whose bald head and long beard. we see in so many pictures, and who is the proto- type of a host of pictorial Jews and sages.
There are some amusing Comic pictures, by Messrs. KNIGHT, KIDD, Buss, CLATER, and FARRIER, in the usual style of the respective artists. Visitors will not fail to discover and appreciate them. In Landscape, there are many productions which have the great merit of being natural, and evince feeling and perception of nature on the part of the painter. The landscapes of J. W. ALLEN, in partis cular, with their lightness, and the sparkling brilliancy of their sunny effects, and the broad pure yellow distances, and Cuyp-like tone, are beautifully true to nature. ( Vide 277, 475, and 497.) But this artist is too slight and sketchy; all light and no shade. Burnham Beeches (131) is more forcibly painted ; it has a rich noontide effect, and is a delicious picture,—only that the foreground is too flat and meagre. This defect also spoils a very clever landscape by A. CLINT (59) ; the tree in the foreground of which is hard and literal ; as are also those in the wood scenes of STARK.
D. ROBERTS'S grand composition of Ruins of a Grecian Temple (13) is the finest picture of its class in the rooms. The architecture is treated in a masterly manner ; and the effect is good, though much too cold for Greece. • This, and the autumnal tints of the trees, which are very indifferently painted, and the group of cattle, give it the appearance of an English landscape with a classical ruin introduced. Of the other pictures by ROBERTS, Edinburgh Castle, from the Grass-market (195), is the best, and is finely painted, without that mannerism which is Ob- servable in too many of the productions of this artist ; and which is seen in 75,—a clever picture nevertheless, and rich in colour and effect. We are not admirers of LINTON'S artificial style of representing Nature ; we scarcely recognize her when tricked out in his meretricious ornaments. The Grecian Choirs at the Temple of Apollo (156) is a
theatrical scene, and any thing but classical. •
There are several of HOFLAND'S broad, clear-toned lake and moun- tain scenes. One of LEE'S green and moist landscapes, a scene on the Dart. Some of CRESWICK'S bright and natural scenes, with tender and any distances, but wanting force in the foreground. A waterfall, with woody foreground (366), well painted, by EARL. A fresh-looking Coast scene (209), with good effect, by O'CONNOR. Some Landscapes and Marine views by WILSON, too blue and cold, though otherwise true to nature. A paw of TENNANT'S Coast scenes, in the style of COLLINS. Messrs. WATTS, SHAYER, JUDKIN, ARROWSMITH, INCE, and Score have each pictures of merit. G. CHAMBERS, like many other marine-painters, paints too bard; and NOBLE'S mountains are too many-coloured. Of the Portraits, that of a Lady Playing on the Organ, by Mrs. J. ROBERTSON (182), is, we think, the best ; it is well drawn, and painted with such force, breadth, and purity, as we should not have expected from a female artist : the portrait painters of the other sex must look to their reputation. Another artiste,Mrs. W. CARPENTER. also has two pic- tures, Mrs. Selwyn and Child (194), and a group of children, painted in an admirable style. HURLSTONE'S portraits are better this year, but they are rather cold and raw. FAULKNER'S also are in advance of those lie exhibited last year, though some arc still too crude and feeble. LONSDALE'S arc and will be always the same hard and faithful like- nesses ; witness those of Arnold, Collard, &c. MIDDLETON disap- points us ; especially in his portrait of Mrs. Vansittart, which is very near being a good picture. SIMPSON has an admirable portrait of Mr. Power (97), with a sly look of humour ; there is a jest lurking in the eye. BOADEN has a warm rich portrait of a lovely girl (120), whose dark eyes glisten and her pulpy lips are moist : the expression is beau- tiful, and cannot but be true ; we prefer it before any in the room, though Mrs. ROBERTSON'S may be the more imposing picture. Portrait of Cardinal Weld (1), by RAMSAY, is carefully painted. We observe some good portraits also by Messrs. Woon, THOMPSON, Room, T. B. LANE, &c. The Countess Verulam, by HAWKINS (257), is cleverly painted, but the attitude seems to have been borrowed from LANDSEER'S Duchess of Bedford. There is something pretty in the Rose of Tully-Veolan, by HOWELL (344). There are some masterly pictures of Dogs by R. B. DAVIS, HANCOCK, and WOODWARD, each excellent in their respective styles. G. STEVENS has some elaborate imitations of Dead Game, and some Grouse and Partridges, not living but stuffed. He has several compe- titors in this line. LANCE has two splendid pictures of Fruit, melons, grapes, Rsc. ; and OtivEit, a Punch-bowl, well filled. But the most singular and novel picture is a long strip of canvas, with a literal delineation of part of the last Coronation Procession, all scarlet and gold, and splendid as "gilt gingerbread y'rare :" it is painted by R. B. DAVIS, who, as an animal painter, should have done more jus- tice to the Hanoverian cream-coloured horses, if he could not paint men without making them ridiculous. The faces appear to be like- nesses, and the uniforms and trappings are minutely accurate ; but the picture, as a whole, is destitute of effect ; and the procession is repre- sented passing over a common. The houses in the line of streets lead- ing to the Abbey, their windows crowded with gazers, and ladies waving scarfs, with the thronging multitude below, formed prominent parts of the real scene, and their introduction in a picture was as essential to historical accuracy as to pictorial effect. It is one of four pictures to be painted for the King ; who should present them to the Horse Guards, to be hung up with the full-size portraits of uniform caps and feathers which adorn its walls. It will interest the army tailors, and dazzle the eyes of aspirants to a red coat. We think that the City should give the artist a commission for a similar painting of the Lord Mayor's Show, and appoint him painter in ordinary to the Corporation.
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